Texas Ag Commissioner to speak at agricultural conference in Austin
Writer: Blair Fannin, 979-845-2259, b-fannin@tamu.edu
AUSTIN – Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller will be one of several speakers at the 17th National Value-Added Agricultural Conference May 18-20 at the Austin Marriott South, 4415 South Interstate 35 in Austin.
The conference is hosted by the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and the agricultural economics department at Texas A&M University.
The theme of the conference is “The Future of the U.S. Food System: Providing Nutritious, Sustainable and Healthy Food for All Americans.”
The conference is held every year in a different state in the U.S. to address food security, rural development and value-added agriculture, according to organizers. This year, the conference is working toward the future needs of the U.S food systems, with the goal of providing enough nutritious, sustainable and healthy foods for U.S. consumers.
Other featured speakers will be:
– Carlos Rubinstein, chairman of the Texas Water Development Board, Austin.
– Dr. Peter Feather, U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Labor Affairs coordinator.
– Judith Canales, Texas State executive director of U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency.
– Daniel Torres, business and cooperative programs director of USDA’s Rural Development.
– Dr. Neilsen C. Conklin, president of Farm Foundation.
– Dr. Mary Ellen Camire, president of Institute of Food Technologists.
Forty other speakers will present as well.
Deadline for registration is 5 p.m. April 27. Registration fee is $200, which will cover meetings, two breakfasts, two lunches, two coffee breaks, a reception, and a banquet.
Farm Credit, the Center for North American Studies, American Farm Bureau Federation, National Food MarketMaker, Southern Rural Development Center, Southern Extension Risk Management Education, AgriLife Extension and the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center are confirmed sponsors for the conference.
For more information about the conference and conference registration, visit http://bit.ly/1F26B2X or contact Trang Dang, AgriLife Extension Service postdoctoral research specialist in the department of agricultural economics at Texas A&M, College Station, at tdang@agecon.tamu.edu.
